In Kosciusko, Mississippi, a small group of 11 residents carrying signs with messages like “No Kings” and “We the People Are Tied” marched Saturday from the city hall to the James Meredith historic marker.
The group in Kosciusko, a small town in Attala County of fewer than 6,800 residents, was among thousands of Mississippians and millions of people nationwide who took the streets on Saturday, Oct. 18, to oppose the Trump administration’s expansion of executive power—including his decision to deploy the National Guard to patrol the streets of American cities.
Marquita Thurman, a local social worker who organized the Kosciusko protest, told the Mississippi Free Press that she wanted “to unite with fellow community members to boldly exercise our fundamental liberties and freedom, and to serve as inspiration for more advocacy efforts.”
“This movement directly confronts the unprecedented challenges to every American’s liberty and freedom, which are being undermined by the behaviors of Donald Trump and his supporters,” she said.
The route from city hall to the James Meredith marker, which honors the Kosciusko native who became the University of Mississippi’s first Black student, “was laden with symbolism,” she said.
“We intentionally passed three underfunded community cornerstones: a library, a school, and a community mental health agency,” Thurman continued. “This symbolic journey was a stark reminder that if citizens take the initial step of advocacy, the necessary provisions for change will inevitably follow.”
‘I Bring My Father With Me’
In Forrest County, around 600 people showed up to a No Kings protest in downtown Hattiesburg, dwarfing the number who showed up for the first No Kings protest there in June.
“I bring my father with me,” said protester Dora Burke, wearing an orange wig made of yarn while standing on the steps of Hattiesburg City Hall and holding a poster with images of her father, World War II veteran Russell Clark.
“He was stationed in the North Pacific and was training in hand-to-hand combat to invade Japan when they dropped the bomb, so he may not have made it back,” she said.
She and others attending the No Kings Day protests say it’s now up to them to fight to prevent tyranny at home at a time when the Trump administration is increasingly claiming more power for the executive branch.
“It’s time for us to transform our anger into something bigger,” activist Giovanni Lowe told the Mississippi Free Press at the No Kings protest on Saturday in Jackson, where about 1,000 people showed up. “Action is important outside our emotions.”
‘It’s About Democracy’
At the No Kings rally in Tupelo, Mississippi, Lee County residents brought peanut butter, cereal and other items to provide to the local food pantry. Mary Jane Meadows with Indivisible Mississippi, the organization behind the event, told the Mississippi Free Press that local aid is more important than ever since Republicans in Congress cut funding to SNAP with President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“This is about people who love America. Our concerns are what we see as erosion of free speech,” said Kelly Jacobs, who organized the Hernando event with Indivisible DeSoto and sported a George Washington uniform as she spoke to the crowd.
Pauline Rhodes, a resident who attended the protest with her friends Marion Smith and Deloris Wickliff, said her concern is for younger people.
“We are losing rights in front of our eyes,” she told the Mississippi Free Press on Saturday. “For us three, we will be OK. But our worries are about what’s going to be taken away from our grandchildren.”
Ralph Morgan, an Olive Branch, Miss., resident, attended a No Kings rally in Memphis earlier in the day on Saturday and later came to the one in Hernando.
In light of Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in cities like Memphis, he said he worries Trump will ultimately do away with the U.S. Constitution and substitute it with an autocracy that resembles that of Russia under President Vladimir Putin.
“It’s about Democracy. There are no other issues. The economy is not the issue. Nothing is, except Democracy,” Morgan said.
Saturday was Senatobia, Mississippi, resident Athen Wong’s first time attending a No Kings protest.
She came to the Hernando Courthouse with a sign in each hand.
“I’m so unhappy with what is going on in our country,” Wong said. “We are spending money, 24-carat gold in the Oval House, when we have hard-working people struggling to make a living.”
‘We Believe That This is a Fascist Regime’
In Gulfport in Harrison County, hundreds of residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast gathered in front of the Dan M. Russell United States courthouse on Saturday, singing along to the tune of Woody Guthrie’s “All You Fascists Bound to Lose.”
Lea Campbell, one of the organizers of the event who was with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Mutual Aid Collective, said it’s important to build community right now.
“We’re at a critical juncture in our country and we believe that this regime is a fascist regime,” she said. “And we have to build as much community and solidarity to save this nation from a fascist regime.”
Campbell said she is “very angry” about Trump’s use of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to round up immigrants across the country.
“I’m also very, very concerned and very angry about the deployment of the National Guard and the attempted deployment of the military into our US cities. It’s unacceptable,” she said.
Carissa Batey, a Gulfport resident, said that one of the issues that motivated her to turn out was women’s rights.
“You can’t force us to do what you want us to do. You’re not gonna make us. You’re gonna die without us. So you kinda gotta listen, a little bit,” she said.
Walter Sully, a Vietnam veteran, told the Mississippi Free Press that he had never protested before until Saturday.
“Times are too crazy. I volunteered for the army, but this is not what I volunteered for,” he said. “This guy is nuts. Trump is nuts. … I don’t know why anyone would think he’s a good man.”
Mississippians also joined No Kings Day events in other Mississippi cities, including Corinth, Oxford, Starkville and Tupelo.
President Donald Trump responded to Saturday’s protests, which drew around seven million protesters nationwide, by posting a fake AI video that showed him wearing a crown while flying a fighter jet and dropping feces on a group of protesters in New York City.
“You know, they’re saying they’re referring to me as a king,” Trump told Fox New host Maria Bartiromo in an interview on Sunday. “I’m not.”
Ashton Pittman reported from Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Kitty Nash reported from Gulfport, Mississippi; Andrew Bell reported from Hernando, Mississippi.
Shaunicy Muhammad contributed from Jackson, Mississippi. Tristyn Stoop contributed to this report from Tupelo, Mississippi.
Correction: This story originally said incorrectly that residents at the Hernando protest brought items to support a local food pantry; it was protesters in Tupelo who brought items to support their local food pantry.
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